Panama-California Exposition (1915-1916)

About This Coin

San Diego held the Panama-California Exposition in City Park, now Balboa Park, through all of 1915 and again through 1916, to mark the opening of the Panama Canal. The city had first bid for the 1915 world's fair that went to San Francisco and stood aside on the promise of an exposition of its own; the two were separate events. Its Spanish-style buildings carried that manner of architecture across the Southwest, and the California Building still stands in the park. C. K. Berryman, a newspaper cartoonist in Washington, designed the official medals, C. E. Barber cut the dies, and they were struck at the Mint display on the grounds. They show Uncle Sam with a pick and a shovel at the canal, and the same design was struck dated 1915 and dated 1916.